WNBA power rankings: Will Clark-Bueckers become the next Wilson-Stewart rivalry?

For the last five years, I have cleared my schedule for every A’ja Wilson versus Breanna Stewart matchup — and there have been many. They are the two defining players of this WNBA generation, with a combined six MVPs and six titles between them, and the faces of USA Basketball. They relish the competition of playing against the best at their position and raise their levels when they meet.

The Wilson-Stewart era is far from over. Wilson is on pace to be MVP yet again, while Stewart is putting together yet another All-WNBA season. Although the Las Vegas Aces sit higher in the standings, the New York Liberty have mostly gotten the best of them this season, including in the Commissioner’s Cup final. A playoff series between them (a fifth matchup in seven seasons) would be high-level theater.

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It would be near-impossible for another individual rivalry to reach those heights — again, look at all the hardware the two have in their trophy cases — but it was fun to get a look at the future during the aptly-named rivals week. Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark have a lot more winning to do to reach the Wilson-Stewart level, but they do have the right ingredients in place. They’re elite players at essentially the same position who came up together through USA Basketball; like Stewart and Wilson, they each were the MVP at a U-19 World Cup. They both had outstanding college careers, and now they are trying to compete for titles in the WNBA.

Bueckers and Clark have met only three times in the pros, and the first was mostly forgettable. The last two, however, have been worth the wait. The third quarter of Friday’s game between Dallas and Indiana was a true highlight, as these two unselfish guards kept trying to one-up the other as bucket-getters. Six of their baskets were immediately followed by points from the other, including a very fun stretch in which Clark hit a layup, Bueckers followed with a pull-up 3, Clark responded with a pull-up jumper and Bueckers hit another shot in the midrange. Not a lot of passing from the nominal point guards, but the budding seeds of a longer rivalry.

Ideally, the Wings and Fever will meet in the playoffs (with Azzi Fudd and Jessica Shepard both healthy by that point) and give this matchup the stakes it deserves. For now, it’s an enjoyable undercard to the Wilson-Stewart rivalry.

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Indiana Fever

The Fever’s big three has been rock-solid all season, and the never-ending question has been who fills the gaps in Indiana’s best lineups. Lexie Hull has a track record of success on the wing. Even if she isn’t putting up a high volume of shots, she is respected as a spacer and has a never-ending motor. And if Hull is having an off night, Sophie Cunningham can step into that 3-and-D role.

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It’s the power forward spot that has been more of a quagmire for the Fever, but KK Timpson recently has taken ownership of that position. The second-year forward’s defense has always been ahead of her offense, but she has improved just enough on that end to justify her minutes. Rather than clog the paint, even though she doesn’t have much shooting range, Timpson has become a very good cutter, and there’s arguably no better passer in the league at finding cutters than Clark. When defenses collapse on Timpson, she’s increasingly comfortable making plays with the ball. Of late, she has made some tough wrap-around passes to Aliyah Boston in the lane.

Timpson is also a more versatile defender than the other players on Indiana’s roster. Not only can she switch onto guards, but she can also serve as the primary defender on perimeter players. That allows for unconventional cross-matches, which are necessary when the Fever need to hide Clark on a less threatening player.

Timpson has set her career-high multiple times in the last two weeks, most recently scoring 20 against Atlanta to help Indiana earn a road win and tie the season series. She didn’t attempt a single shot outside of the restricted area, but she doesn’t have to — not when she’s also cleaning the glass and defending the rim. Timpson has taken huge strides since last year’s postseason, when she mostly came on as a defensive sub. Now, she positively impacts both sides of the ball.

This placement is more reflective of the Natisha Hiedeman version of the Seattle Storm than if she ends up missing extended time. Side note, kudos to Hiedeman for putting together the third-longest consecutive games streak (256) in league history before a shoulder injury ended it Sunday.

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But the Storm had a nice week regardless, comfortably beating the Chicago Sky before coming up just short against Portland and Chicago the second time around. Their defense is coming along nicely, which figures to be the identity of a team with so many long and athletic wings and bigs. They’re forcing a high volume of turnovers (17 percent of opponents’ possessions) and have the third-lowest opposing effective field-goal percentage. Seattle emphasizes getting in the gaps and creating deflections; that aggression sometimes manifests itself in getting too foul-happy, but it’s a reasonable trade-off for a young team.